This is an in-progress list and I will make updates to it as I get information. Here is who we have so far:

From the ATSSB auditions we have Josue Benitez-Bass Clarinet and Angel Olivas-Euphonium from San Elizario. Arturo Olivo-Trumpet from Fabens, from Radford Joshua Anaya and Maya Navar on French Horn, and
Jonathan Lopez- Clarinet,Daniel Soto- Bari Sax, Krysta Eby- Flute, and Odette Higareda, Alto Sax; all from Mountain View!

I characterized this year’s ToB as a contest where any band had a shot at fame and glory, and boy was I right. The finals had some surprises in store for area band fans. I really like it when contests end up this way, as it’s just not as much fun if everything seems pre-ordained to finish a certain way. So let’s look at the results!

The Grand Champion is the Hanks band. After a disappointing run at UIL Area the Knights seemingly doubled down on their show. They added some field props as they have been doing the past few years, which for the ToB format helps them score higher GE scores. And they fixed the electronics problems that plagued their Area performance. The also won the Visual and Music captions at Finals, so the Knights were out for redemption, which they received in the best way possible.

Coming in second was Centennial High School, Las Cruces’ newest high school. Centennial won the GE caption and also won the Greg Randall award for highest scoring New Mexico band.

Rounding out the top three in third place was Americas High School, who had tied for the visual and music captions with Hanks in the prelims round.

The overall scoring from finals broke down this way:

1- Hanks High School (89.30)
2- Centennial High School (88.85)
3- Americas High School (87.05)
4- Coronado High School (86.60)
5- Onate- High School (85.80)
6- Montwood High School (83.5)
7- Eastwood High School (83.45)
8- La Cueva High School (82.45)
9- Eastlake High School (81.45)
10- Del Valle High School (81.40)

This year’s contest did have a couple of “what-ifs?” What if Bel Air had attended? Would coming off the State contest given them momentum, or not? What if El Paso El Dorado had attended? El Dorado made the finals of the BOA Long Beach contest just a couple of weeks ago.

Of course, there is no way of knowing. But this was certainly a great band event, and a superlative way to cap off the 2015 competitive marching season. Congratulations to all these fine bands and their directors.

In Class B I said “the top 3 finishers will be El Paso High, Mayfield, and Riverside. This is a little tricky because there are some good bands in this class and I haven’t seen Deming or Silver this year. Still, I’ll call Riverside to take the class.”

The winners were Riverside in 1st, El Paso in 2nd, Mayfield in 3rd. Riverside won for GE, El Paso took the music and visual captions.

In class A, I said “I think the top three will be Centennial, Eastlake, and Ysleta. Again, some good bands in this class and also more New Mexico bands that we in El Paso haven’t seen that could surprise us. I think it will be a dogfight, but I’ll go with Eastlake for the top finisher and Centennial to challenge strongly for it.”

The winners were Centennial in 1st, Eastlake in 2nd, and Chapin in 3rd. Centennial took GE, Eastlake won music and visuals. I was wrong about Ysleta and Centennial did indeed make it a dogfight.

In Class AA, I said “Class AA is where things will be interesting, as always. Coronado, Hanks, Del Valle, and Americas will all be bringing it, and you have Bel Air fresh off a great showing at State. I believe the top three in this class will be from these five, with maybe Onate breaking into the mix.”

(Bel Air actually decided not to attend the contest, as their travel schedule back from state left them too little time to be prepared.)

So the AA results were Hanks in 1st, Coronado 2nd, and Americas 3rd. Hanks and Americas tied for the musical and visual captions, while Coronado took the GE caption.

Then I said ” The Greg Randall award for top New Mexico band I think will go to either Centennial or Onate. I haven’t seen either band this year, but I’ll call it for Onate because I like to live on the edge.”

The award went to Centennial.

Finally, there are the finals. I said “The top 10 scores from prelims advance, and I think most of them, as usual, will come from class AA. I say, in order of the schedule, that Centennial, Eastlake, Bel Air, Onate, Hanks, Americas, Del Valle, and Coronado will all be there. That leaves 2 spots open and I’ll say they will be filled by Volcano Vista, Franklin, or Eastwood.”

The finalists were Centennial, Eastlake, Onate, Hanks, Americas, Del Valle, Coronado, Eastwood, La Cueva, and Montwood. I missed on La Cueva and Montwood, two bands whose shows I haven’t seen this year. But overall, pretty spot on, I’d say. 8 out of 10!

Congratulations to all bands and their fine directors! Finals results will be posted when I get them!

The last marching contest of the year is upon us a the NMSU Tournament of Bands caps off a great marching season for the El Paso and Las Cruces areas.

The contest will kick off at 8:30 in the morning at Aggie Memorial Stadium, and ticket prices are $15 for adults 13 and up, free for children under 5, and 6-12 I believe is $10. Tickets are available at the gate.

I haven’t made any marching predictions in a couple of years as I haven’t been able, for a couple of good reasons, to actually see any bands, but I finally got out a bit this marching season. And so I’m ready to try and call some stuff here.

In class C it’s going to be Morenci HS, which is an easy one because they are the only entry. In class B I think the top 3 finishers will be El Paso High, Mayfield, and Riverside. This is a little tricky because there are some good bands in this class and I haven’t seen Deming or Silver this year. Still, I’ll call Riverside to take the class.

In class A I think the top three will be Centennial, Eastlake, and Ysleta. Again, some good bands in this class and also more New Mexico bands that we in El Paso haven’t seen that could surprise us. I think it will be a dogfight, but I’ll go with Eastlake for the top finisher and Centennial to challenge strongly for it.

Class AA is where things will be interesting, as always. Coronado, Hanks, Del Valle, and Americas will all be bringing it, and you have Bel Air fresh off a great showing at State. I believe the top three in this class will be from these five, with maybe Onate breaking into the mix.

Plus, factor in that every other El Paso 6-A earned a first division at UIL, and then you throw in the very good New Mexico bands we haven’t had much opportunity to see this year. That makes it anybody’s guess, but that’s the beauty of this contest. With each band bringing different strengths to the table, a lot of judges, and the different captions each adjudicator will be looking at, anyone who has a great performance should be able to challenge. And that’s as it should be, and that’s what makes this contest so much fun.

The Greg Randall award for top New Mexico band I think will go to either Centennial or Onate. I haven’t seen either band this year, but I’ll call it for Onate because I like to live on the edge.

Finally, there are the finals. The top 10 scores from prelims advance, and I think most of them, as usual, will come from class AA. I say, in order of the schedule, that Centennial, Eastlake, Bel Air, Onate, Hanks, Americas, Del Valle, and Coronado will all be there. That leaves 2 spots open and I’ll say they will be filled by Volcano Vista, Franklin, or Eastwood.

So see, I hedged my bet a little bit right there, but there are a lot of worthy contenders. One thing that is certain is that this is a great contest for band fans and whichever bands appear in the finals will not disappoint. If you have predictions of your own, I’d love to hear them!

Good Luck to all bands and their directors, and don’t forget your sunscreen! Saturday will be a long day!

It’s been a while since I’ve imparted any wisdom (?) over marching shows. Last year my husband and I became parents, and going to games or contests didn’t really happen. This year I broke my ankle at the beginning of August and wasn’t very mobile for the first part of marching season.

But I did see the EPISD contest as an adjudicator, and I very eagerly went to the Area A- West contest on Saturday. Here’s my takeaway from the contest.

I thought all the bands did a great job, although I wish a couple of more had been in the mix. I saw almost all the 5-A bands at EPISD, and I thought El Paso High, Andress High, Jefferson High, and Parkland High were certainly within striking distance of earning a “1” and a trip to Area.

Only having 8 bands at our local area contest was a detriment, as it meant only one band would automatically advance to state. From seeing the bands at EPISD, I thought the four bands most likely to move on to State were the Hanks, Bel Air, Del Valle, and Eastlake bands. These did indeed turn out to be the four ‘finalists’ at the area contest.

Had the contest been held back on the October 2-3 weekend, I think Hanks would have taken it. Their marching has been spectacular for years now, and the music was great. The other three bands were certainly competitive, with Eastlake and Bel Air fielding shows with lots of audience appeal and Del Valle sounding great as always and marching better than they have in several years.

But at Area, Hanks had issues with the electronics used to amplify their featured small ensembles. Unfortunately for them, the small groups were featured throughout the show, so the issue kept popping up. I have heard (but it isn’t confirmed, at least to me) that their soundboard got wet in one of our fall rainstorms, and that caused the problems.

Their music issues left the door open, and Bel Air, marching in the coveted last spot, marched right through. Great marching, a controlled and balanced musical book, and lots of general effect made them the clear winners of the day. They ranked no lower than 2nd place by any of the 5 judges, which is pretty convincing. They will make a great representation of our city at State, and also drew a great spot for the State prelims, marching 28th out of 31 bands.

Area contests are determined by judges’ ordinals. In this series of numbers, the first 3 scores are the music judges’ rankings, and the next two are the marching judges. Bel Air’s ordinals were 2,2,1,1,2, giving them a total of 8 points. Second place Del Valle had 1,3,2,2,5 so they ended up with 13 points. Hanks came up with 3,1,4,5,1 for 14 points. Eastlake rounded out the top four with a 5,4,3,3,3 for a total of 18. In this method of ranking, the lowest score wins.

Although the judges were a bit divergent on some bands, overall they were fairly consistent, and you actually WANT some differences of opinion. If they judged in lockstep, no everyone would have a chance to make a big move.

Nevertheless, those two “1”s in Hanks’ score are heartbreaking for one reason. Because of a rule in the UIL handbook, had the Knights gotten one more first place ordinal from one of the music judges, they would have advanced to State along with Bel Air.

Overall I must say the contest was full of amazing bands. Any of them would have made a fine representative for us at State.

As you may or may not be aware, I hold a special place in my heart for ALL bass drum lines, who have to march with very cumbersome, heavy drums as well as playing usually-difficult parted-out lines. I spent the first few years of my time at my last high school working with our bass drummers, and have grown to appreciate how difficult it really is.

So I am always listening for an exceptional line. I heard several on Saturday, but my special shout-out is to the Del Valle Bass Line, whose musically-tasty splits were a delight to hear. Well done!

Speaking of drum lines, you can hear a bunch of them at the YISD/Eastwood High Sun City Throwdown this Saturday. The event schedule is available on this blog or on the ‘Musical Notes-the blog’ Facebook page.

Here is the schedule of ToB. Ticket prices are $15 for o general admission, ages 13 and above, and are available at Ticketmaster. Children 5 and under are free, and tickets for children 6-12 are available at the gate. The contest takes place at Aggie Memorial Stadium on the NMSU campus.